Scarlet Truth
by ForgottenUmbrella
Summary: When Remilia starts a game of Truth or Dare during a tea party, the only one who ends up embarassed is herself. Some really mild RemiPatchy.


It was a strange night in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

At this time, the inhabitants would normally be peacefully drinking tea by the fireplace. In fact, that was exactly what they were doing. So, what the reason for this night being unusual? That is what this is about.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Remilia banged her fist on the round table and stood up, happily announcing, "Let's do something fun today!"

"You mean, tonight," her friend, Patchouli responded. The four inhabitants of the mansion were sitting around a small table that they used for drinking tea on alternate days. It was one of the only times that they all were no longer masters or servants, but all friends to one another. They would always sit in the same arrangement, Remilia sitting opposite Meiling with Sakuya on her left and Patchouli on her right. Flandre only joined them when she had fulfilled two conditions that day; one, that she had not broken anything, and two, that she had promised not to throw tea all over the fireplace. She would sit in between Patchouli and Meiling. That day was not one of those days.

"What would you like to do, Miss Remilia?" her ever-faithful head maid questioned.

"Let's play a game!"

"Eh? What game, mistress?" Meiling asked.

"Let's play... a game that I heard about from Flandre, who heard about it from Marisa, who heard about it from Reimu, who played it with Yukari and her shikigami!"

"What is it called, mistress?" Meiling was getting rather interested now.

"Umm..." Remilia mumbled. "Actually, I have no idea."

Everyone slapped their hands against their foreheads with perfect synchronisation.

"Well, at least explain the rules of the game, Remi."

Remilia then went into a long explanation about how the game worked. According to her, a bottle (or something spinnable) would be spun twice. The first person it pointed at would be asked if they would like to answer a question or asked to do something ridiculous. The second would give a question or an action for the first person to answer or do. The first person had to answer truthfully (which was the reason why no one ever played this game with the Komeiji sisters). However, they were allowed to skip a question or action, but not without penalty. The person with the most skips at the end would have to do a forfeit decided by the other players. In the event of a tie, nothing would happen to those since they were playing with only four people.

"So, do you get the rules?" Remilia asked, wings flapping excitedly. Without waiting for an answer, she said, "If so, then let us begin!"

"Remi, do you want me to spin your head?" Patchouli asked with a strange smile on her face.

"Ah ha, no. I'll go get an empty bottle of something," she said before leaving the room.

Sakuya really wondered what kind of questions would be asked, and began thinking of some to say. Meiling thought that this would be a great time to get people to do stupid things without getting punished for it. Patchouli believed that this game was going to take a long time.

By the time they were all done thinking, Remilia was back and yelling at their faces, "DO YOU WANT TO PLAY OR NOT?"

They all nodded slowly.

"Without further ado, let us begin!" she said, spinning the bottle. "Round and round it goes, where it'll stop, we never know~"

The bottle landed squarely on Meiling. "Truth," she called, and Remilia spun the bottle once more, the bottle now facing Sakuya.

"Fortunately, I have prepared several questions for you."

"_Prepared even during a game; what a hard to surprise person."_ Meiling thought.

"Go on, ask away."

"Why do you sleep so often even when on the job?"

"..."

"Look, I just want to know so I am aware whether I should be dragging you inside or whacking you on the head."

"I sleep because I'm tired," Meiling deadpanned. "What did you expect me to say, so you'll hit me on the head with various sharp objects? I'm by no means a masochist."

"Ah, I see. NEXT," Sakuya called.

Remilia spun the bottle twice, but this time it faced Sakuya then herself.

"Dare, because I bet you would say truth on your turn, and we can't be having a truth or truth game now, can we?"

"Then I ask you to go to my sister's room and dance around, without stepping on her toys or waking her up. No stopping time, Sakuya."

Sakuya walked down the stairs to the basement/Flandre's room, everyone following behind her. The floor had toys scattered all over, most of which were torn. She floated up into the air and spun around gracefully, like a ballerina, before performing a series of dance steps which were probably not common in Gensokyo. She then landed on the ground in a pose which would have looked horrible in a danmaku duel but great onstage.

"Wow. I never knew Sakuya could dance like that," Meiling commented.

"That's our elegant maid for you," Remilia replied. "Now, let us return to the table."

They went back to the round table near the fireplace.

"Spin, bottle, spin." It pointed at Remilia, followed by Patchouli.

"Truth," she said, confident that her long-time friend would not give her an awkward question. She sipped her tea...

"Remi, who do you like?"

...and promptly choked on it before quickly regaining her composure.

"Why, I like everyone, of course. What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, who do you _like_? You know, _like_?"

Something shattered in the background, together with a cry of "Charisma Break!" The silence that followed was almost nerve-wracking.

"This game really backfired on me..." Remilia mumbled, hugging her knees.

"Well, I take that as a yes then, so let us continue."

"No..." Remilia mumbled, looking up. "Wait... I'll tell you guys, just... don't tell anyone else," she had forgotten that most information talked about during this game was normally kept as a secret. "I... can't say it. I'm sorry."

"Why not?" Patchouli asked almost in a whisper.

"Because the one I like, no, the one I _love_, is right here. This is getting so cheesily (not a real word) idiotic...

"...Patchy."

"Wait, so was that a response to the question or a confession or both?" asked Meiling.

Nobody responded to her, for she was the only one who did not understand (which she actually did).

Remilia now had a tinge of scarlet on her cheeks (The irony). "Excuse me, but are we going to continue with the game? Also, why do I get the most embarrassing question of the night?"

Sakuya and Meiling thought about it for a while, silently agreeing to end the game now, for that response had kind of put everyone into a temporary shock, thus the game would not be fun anymore.

"Let's end now. Thank you for the game." They both stood up, Sakuya taking away the cups before exiting the area.

Patchouli walked over to a nearby couch and sat on it. Unlike always, she was not reading, but deep in thought. This left Remilia sitting by the round table by herself, silently brooding over the night's events. It was so difficult for her to say such a thing, but now that she thought about it, it was remarkable that she had never commented on it before.

She tentatively approached her friend on the sofa, sitting down so quietly it would have put a church mouse to shame. Suddenly, her friend turned and spoke with a smile. It was not an unnerving one she usually reserved for the magician-thief, but a warm loving smile she had not seen in years.

"That was totally expected, Remi."

Although Remilia had thought that her friend would be annoyed, she certainly had not believed that everyone would just... accept it.

"It was predictable?"

"Sakuya had been telling Meiling about how your face was whenever my name was mentioned, that it went into some sort of blissful dream. From the way she describes it, it seems rather adorable," she continued, still with that calm look on her face. "To Sakuya, it was obvious that I was more than just your good friend to you."

Before long, Remilia had fallen asleep on Patchouli's shoulder, arms around her like a bolster. A few decades ago, she would have been disturbed. Now, it seemed like something and old friend would do, and that one would put up with it.

After all, she had had a crush on her best friend for two decades.

* * *

I tried. Like I really really tried. Please don't yell at me. *goes to sleep*

Who says the last line? Who knows. Maybe both of them. To me, for pairing names, this is RemiPatchy, because I finally decided that with the Touhou girls, the one who comes first isn't the dominant one, but the one with the crush on the other person.

I used to ship RemiSaku and MeiPatchy, but eventually swapped it to RemiPatchy and MeiSaku, because Remilia is freaking awesome when embarrassed. That sounds really weird. Also, two decades is a really long time.

The game is pretty obviously "Truth or Dare". My friends and I play the bottle spinning like that.

My lack of real life experience really does not help. I mean in the romance sector, not the truth or dare part.

Is this even funny enough to be tagged under humour, and sweet enough to be under romance?

Why do I always ask questions in the notes?


End file.
